No excuses now for overgrown trees and shrubs to be spied in our members\u2019 gardens.\u00a0 Nigel Start brought a lifetime of experience and knowledge to our Club when he spoke to us about all aspects of pruning.\u00a0 He reminded us of the basics of gardening before giving helpful details of how to prune a myriad of plants, large and small.<\/p>\n
Choose your plants with care – remember that they never stop growing so rate of growth is vital especially in a small garden.\u00a0 Just as important is your type of soil, the climate, the surrounding plants, behaviour of domesticated and wild animals\u00a0 and so on\u2026.
\nWhy prune anyway?\u00a0 Well, you may need to control the overall size, you may wish to form a shape, encourage flowers, stimulate fruiting, promote beautiful leaves and colourful stems.\u00a0 Do set yourself a pruning objective; hopefully this will stop you from cutting back branches at the wrong time just because they have grown too much without you noticing.\u00a0 Pruning at the wrong time may result in a very sad plant or even its demise.<\/p>\n
All the pruning in the world will not do any good unless the cuts are made correctly.\u00a0 Make sure that you have best quality tools with sharp blades that will make clean cuts that heal\u00a0 quickly whether they are secateurs, loppers or even a bow saw.\u00a0 Make life easier for yourself by cutting suckers back to base, cutting out all dead or diseased wood, taking out twiggy, spindly growth. Remove branches which are growing inwards towards the main stem.\u00a0 On budding branches always cut an inch or so beyond a bud, leaving the bud on the branch.\u00a0 Make several cuts on a large heavy branch on top and underneath\u00a0to avoid tearing the bark.\u00a0 Never leave a jagged edge.\u00a0 Get professional help if in any doubt!<\/p>\n
Nigel then described the right pruning times for a large number of plants – too many to mention here.\u00a0 A good rule of thumb is to prune after flowering and avoid severe frost!\u00a0 One useful tip was to prune evergreen\u00a0 shrubs in April\/May – not in winter.\u00a0 Another piece of advice was to be brave especially with roses\u00a0 – they will benefit from\u00a0 pruning to the lowest bud(!)\u00a0 Of course you must water the plant immediately after pruning.
\nThere are many helpful books which will assist you with particular plants – do invest in one before you prune that precious plant!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No excuses now for overgrown trees and shrubs to be spied in our members\u2019 gardens.\u00a0 Nigel Start brought a lifetime of experience and knowledge to our Club when he spoke to us about all aspects of pruning.\u00a0 He reminded us … Continue reading